Conveyors



H. C. JONSON Aug. 4, 1959 CONVEYORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 27, 1956Filed Nov. 27, 1956 H. c. JONSON CONVEYORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. C. JONSONAug. 4, 1959 CONVEYORS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 27, 1956 lino enterH. (2176126 012/ United States Patent() i 2,897,951 CONVEYORS Henry C.Jonson, Kungsbacka, Sweden, assignor to Aktiebolaget Valida Maskiner,Kungsbacka, Sweden, a

corporation of Sweden 7 Application November 27, 1956, Serial No.624,527

2 Claims. (Cl. 198-38) The present invention generally relates toconveying contrivances, and more particularly to an improved conveyor ofa kind which is especially well adapted for the conveyance of articlesof clothing carried on clothes suspenders and which comprises a conveyortrack and'at' least one conveying member movable along said track andhaving at least one element for releasably carrying clothes suspenders.

The primary object of the invention is to enable a general improvementof conveyors of the kind referred to. Accordingly, the mainlycharacterising feature of the invention resides in that said suspendercarrying element is so arranged as to be movable relative to saidconveying member, and in that means are provided adapted at apredetermined station situated along said conveyor track to actuate saidelement so as to displace said element from its operative position tothereby enable the suspender carried by the element to be discharged bygravity.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description of two specific embodiments thereof illustrated byway of example in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the conveyor according to thepreferred embodiment of the invention, particularly illustrating theequipment at one station thereof.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional elevation, partly broken away, of theconveyor station illustrated in Fig. '1, and as seen from the left-handside of the latter figure."

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation, partly broken away, of a conveyorstation of the conveyor according to the second one of said embodiments.f;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation illustrating said secondembodiment of the invention; and 7 i Fig. is a horizontal section,partly broken away, and taken along the line VV in Fig. 4. e

Referring now to the drawings more specifically, the arrangementsillustrated therein are specifically adapted for the conveyance ofarticles of'clothing, for instance in the ready-made clothing industry,in which case said articles of clothing are carried on clothes hangersor suspenders known per se provided with hook-like elements forsuspending the same. For the sake: of simplicity, neither the articlesofclothing" nor the suspenders'therefor have been illustrated intheaccompanying, drawings.

In Fig. 1, numeral 1 designates a conveyor track consisting of asubstantially channel-shaped rail having its 2,897,951 Patented Aug. 4,195 9 4 is movably arranged relative to the associated conveying member3 in a manner to enable the element to be relative to the spindle.

by a device indicated generally at 8 which is adapted to actuated fromits operative position to thereby enable the clothes suspender carriedby the element to be removed by gravity.

Each carrying element 4 comprises a spindle 5 which is rotatably mountedin the lower portion of the member 3 so as to extend substantiallytransversely to the longi tudinal direction of the conveyor track. Oneend por-] tion 6 of said spindle 5 normally (i.e. in its operativeposition) extends at an oblique angle outwards and upwards from onelateral side of the member 3 and serves for carrying clothes suspendersthereon. The opposite end portion 7 of the spindle 5, which end portionis disposed at the opposite lateral side of the conveying memher 3, isso arranged as to extend substantially radially The end portion 7 isactuatable turn the spindle 5 so as to cause the first-mentioned endportion 6, which serves for carrying clothes suspenders,

. to be directed downwards, as indicated in dot-and-dash lines, tothereby enable the suspenders carried thereby to drop by gravity. Thespindle 5 carries a counterweight 9 urging the spindle towards theposition in which'the end portion 6 extends at an oblique angle upwardsand outwards from the conveying member. Instead of this, however, thespindle could be spring-loaded towards said angular position.

Said device 8 for actuating an element 4 from its operative position, inthe embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1

i and 2, comprises a shaft 10 extending in substantially parallelrelation to the conveyor track 1 at the station .where articles ofclothing are to be discharged from the 14 is adapted to actuate the endportion 7 of the element 4 during the rotational movement of shaft 10,as'indi-. cated in dot-and-dash lines at the right-handside of Fig. 2.Although not illustrated in the drawings, the shaft 10 is weight orspring loaded in such a manner as,

t after having been actuated by the conveying member 3,

to be restored into the angular position in which its levers 13 and 14extend as shown in full lines in Fig. 2. The

lever 13 is provided at its free end portion with an idling,

roller 15 adapted to cooperate with a cam surface 16 of the member 3 asthe latter passes by this roller 15, to

interveningportionturned upwards whereas its legs ex tend downwards andare in-turned at their extreme edge portions so as to form runways, aswill be seen from Fig. 2 Intended[to cooperate withtheserunways arerollers 2 through.the mediunr'of which members 3 are mvab1e-a1ng theconveyqi-i mack iniihgtthelgllgr-iz in; extending longitudinally of theconveyor track I.

carry the members 3 suspen; frqin the 'conve yor track. In theaccompanyingdraw only, one such member}: is illustrated, this rfiember'b n'g providedjvith ltwtfi'pairs of rollers for carrying the member, itbeingobviousj'however, that, as has, already, been indicated, theconveying thereby cause the shaft 10 to be rotated in the mannerdescribed.

Each unloading station comprises two U-shaped brackets 12 disposed inparallel relation and spaced longitudinally of the conveyor track, eachbracket 12 being, at its intervening portion, secured to the conveyortrack 1 in a straddling manner so that its legs depend from the comveyor track. The legs of the two brackets 12 are interconnected at theirlower ends by connecting members 17 One of the brackets is provided withtwo idling rollers-"18 mounted on individual ones of thetwo legs of saidbracket so-as' to have their respective axes extending vertically.Theserollers serve as guiding elements to prevent the member 3 frombeing deflected laterally as the member passes through the unloading ordischarge station and an element 4 is actuated by the device 8. One ofthe longia' tudinal.connectingmembers 17, through the intermediary of adepending bracket 19, carries a rod 20 which extends at an angleoutwards and downwards from the conveyor 3 and which serves for catchingup clothes suspenders toge'ther with articles of clothing carriedthereby as these are discharged from the carrying elements 4.

As already stated, the conveying contrivance may .com-

prisefseveral discharge stations identical with the ones just describedwhich are secured in suitable positions along the, preferably, endless,conveyor track 1. Also, there will be a plurality of carriers orconveying members3 forming an endless conveyor in which the members 3.are interconnected by chain links 21, for example. Since the conveyingmembers 3 are all identical, it will be easy to determine, by suitablyadjusting the distance between the levers 13, 14 along the shaft,10,,which. particular one of the several carrying elements (fiveelements, as shown in Fig. l) is to be actuated at any one dischargestation. In the embodiment illustrated by way of example in Figs. 1 and2, the levers 13, .14 are so arranged as to cause the second element, ascounted from the lefthand end of Fig. l, to be actuated by the lever 14as the conveying member 3 engages and depresses the cam following roller15. Therefore, in order to enable the arrangement to be adapted todiffering requirements, the lever 14 and/or the lever 13 should bedisplaceable along the shaft and adapted to be locked in variouspositions of displacement.

Referring now to the Figures 3 and 4, the embodiment illustrated thereinmainly differs from the previous embodiment merely in that the camsurface 16 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is replaced by a roller 22 which isdisplaceable vertically relative to the conveying member 3 and isadapted to be locked in various positions of displacement, while thelever 13 is replaced by a lever 23 pivoting on a separate shaft 24. Theshaft 24 is spaced above the shaft 10, and the distance between the twoshafts, is different for the various discharge stations whereby thelever 23 will only be actuatable by the roller 22 for a particularsetting of the latter. Thus, if the roller 22.has been set to a positionto actuate the lever 23 at one particular station, then the roller 22will pass by the levers 23 of any other stations without actuating anyone of them. The lever 23 is provided at its extreme end with a cam-likeelement 25 for cooperation with the roller 22. The shaft 24 is providedat its opposite side with a lever 26 which is pivotally connected to theupper end of a substantially vertical link 27. The lower end of this 27is pivotally connected to. a lever 28 projecting from the shaft 10. Thelink 27 carries a weight 29 which urges the link downwards so as tocause the levers 1.4, 23 to be restored to their initial positions afterhaving been actuated by roller 22.

The roller 22 is rotatably mounted on a-journal pin 30 which is securedto a sliding block 31 on a vertical rod 32 mounted on the conveyingmember 3. The-roller 22 is disposed at one lateral side of the member 3while the sliding block 31 and rod 32 are disposed at the oppositelateral side thereof, and the journal pin 30, accordingly, is passedthrough a vertically extending slot 33 in the member 3 which latter ispreferably made of sheet-metal. Said-slot 33 is provided at one of itslongitudinal edges with a plurality of notches 34 adapted to receive thejournal pin in order to retain the same in its various posi-' tions ofvertical adjustment. In addition, to enable the journal, pin 30 to bemoved into and out of engagement with said notches 34, the sliding block31 is also rotatable about the rod 32, the sliding block 31 beingprovided with one or more springs 35 which cooperate with the member 3in urging the sliding block 31 in such a sense as to cause the journalpin 31 automatically to be snapped into engagement with that notch 34with which the pin 30 has been brought into alignment. The sliding block31 has an operating handle 36 in the form of alever which projects fromthe block. 3

Finally, it may be mentioned in conjunctionwith this embodiment, thatthe lever 14 aud'the le er 23, by being swung counter-clockwise-througha certain angle, can be adjusted into an inoperative position in whichthe lever 23 is prevented from being engaged by the roller 22, wherebythe carrying element 4 will be unaffected upon the conveying member 3passing by the station concerned. Numeral 37 designates a stopforlimiting the clockwise angular movement of the lever 14 following theactuation of thev carrying element 4-. In addition, said stop 37 servesfor maintaining the complete linkage in its position indicated in fulllines in Fig. 3.

It is to be understood that the invention should not be considered to berestricted to the specific constructional embodiments as hereinbeforedescribed in conjunction with the accompanying; drawings, since the sameis sus ceptible to changes in its details or applications withoutdeparting from, the scope of the invention. Thus, for example, theconveyor may be used, for conveying other objects than articles ofclothing carried on suspenders.

What is claimed is:

1. A conveyor for the conveying of suspended articles comprising aconveyor track, a plurality of conveying members spaced along a conveyorchain and movable in series along and suspended from said track, aplurality of stations in spaced predetermined positions along saidconveyor track, each of said conveying members having a plurality ofcarrying elements upon any one of which an article may be suspended tobe carried by said conveying member as the latter moves along saidtrack, each of said carrying elements in each of said conveying memberscomprising a spindle rotatably mounted in said convey-- ing member andhaving a finger projecting obliquely to the axis of rotation thereof,each of said spindles being rotatable independently of the others ofsaid spindles from afirst position in which said finger will extendobliquely upwards to retain an article suspended thereon to a secondposition in which said finger will extend obliquely downwards whereby anarticle carried thereby will be released for discharge from said fingerunder the influence of gravity, and means in at least certain of saidstations for rotating solely one of said spindles from said firstposition to said second position whereby to discharge in said stationany article which may be suspended by said. one finger.

2. A conveyor for the conveying of articles such as garments suspendedon garment hangers having hooks, comprising a conveyor track, aplurality of conveying members spaced along a conveyor chain and movablein series along and suspended from said track, a plurality of stationsin spaced predetermined positions along said conveyor track, each ofsaid conveying members having a plurality of carrying elements upon anyone of which the book of: a garment hanger may be placed for thecarrying of said garment hanger by said conveying member as the lattermoves along said track, each of said carrying elements in each of saidconveying members comprising a spindle rotatably mounted in saidconveying member and having a finger projecting obliquely to the axis ofrotation thereof and transversely of the path of said conveyor chain,eachof'said spindles being rotatable independently of the others of saidspindles from a first position in which said finger will extendobliquely upwards to retain a garrnent hanger hook suspended thereon toa second position in, which said finger. will extend obliquely downwardswhereby a garment hanger hook carried thereby will be released fordischarge from said finger under the influence of gravity, and. means inat least certain of said stations for rotating solely one of saidspindles from said first position to said second position whereby todischarge in said station any garment hanger which may be suspended bysaid one. finger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

